Stars and Spectres
by Dandy in the Aspic
Summary: Kaidan and Shepard make Valentine's Day plans in typical fashion - under gunfire.


Fluffy future fic. Written very quickly for Valentine's day. Tiny references to my other fics.

* * *

Shepard shoved herself around a concrete pillar, roughly yanking Kaidan behind her. He let out an _oomph _and then took the brief lull in gunfire to smack another heat sink into his rifle. Shepard nodded at him, eyes grave. They were severely outnumbered, and outgunned.

Just another normal Tuesday then.

"Did you pick up Andy's meds yesterday?" she asked, flicking sweaty hair out of her eyes, and popping around the pillar to fire a shockwave down the corridor. Mercs were blown back by her blue force, giving them mere seconds of reprieve.

Kaidan pulled her back and raised his arm. His armor flared purple for a moment and then there was a massive _BOOM_, as his biotics met hers and ripped into the rest of the mercs. Reave always left such a nice touch, she thought with a feral grin.

He spun back behind the pillar, eyes fading back from azure to their natural brown.

Kaidan frowned. "Shepard, yeah, I told you. I put them by the toaster. I picked them up as soon as I finished work at HQ."

"Well, Ma called me this morning." Shepard huffed, rolling her eyes. Only Ami Alenko could track her down on a secure comm, three solar systems away to nag. "She couldn't find them."

"Shepard, I swear I did." Kaidan's frown matched hers. She could tell he was unhappy that Andy didn't have his meds for his diaper rash. It wasn't urgent, but without them he got teary and uncomfortable. "I wouldn't forget."

Shepard sighed and fired a stray shot at a krogan, who had been trying to sneak up on them. Kaidan shifted, tucking the data on ship movements they had recovered from the merc base more comfortably into his armor.

"She's probably just having a moment," Shepard said, picturing Ma searching all over the house when the meds were probably just sitting by the toaster like Kaidan said. "I'll call her back once we've taken care of this." Shepard watched a vorcha raise a rocket launcher, and arched an eyebrow. "Duck, sweetheart."

He obeyed instantly, and Shepard spun as the rocket's contrails harmlessly whizzed by them. There was a resounding explosion fifty feet away, and a wall of heat hit their sweaty faces.

Shepard glared at the vorcha and fired her pistol, sending a perfectly placed shot right between his eyes. The rocket launcher clattered out of his hands, and Shepard made a tugging gesture with her arm, engulfing it in biotics and pulling it towards her. Kaidan plucked the rocket launcher out of the air and added it to his arsenal clipped to his back.

_Perfect_, she thought. _Nice little ace in the hole if we get in a tough spot._

"Nice shot." He grinned and held his hand up for a brief high five.

Shepard laughed and returned it. "Thanks. Time to bug out, I think. Call Cortez for extraction at the LZ."

Kaidan barked into his comm and together they gradually paced their way through the crumbling facility, picking off any mercs who tried to stop them on the way.

"You want to go out for dinner tonight?" Kaidan panted as he hunkered down behind a fallen staircase, covering Shepard with his body as she swiped some medi-gel on a nasty cut on his face. In his hands he held two glowing biotic spheres, the energy swirling around them in an impenetrable barrier. "Ma said she'd watch Miles and Andy."

"Dinner?" Shepard frowned again, patting his shoulder to tell him she was good to go, and standing to vault a tabletop. He slid after her, raising his M-96 Mattock to cover the way they had come. "What for?"

"It's um, Valentine's Day tomorrow."

Shepard laughed. "So? We had dinner last night together. I thought we could chill with the boys and stay in our PJs all night and eat mac and cheese. And maybe play turian marbles again. That was fun. Miles is getting quite good, you know. I think he's got great aim. He smacked Garrus right on the head with one, that time you were away. Chip off the old block if I do say so myself." She giggled and mimed blowing on her nails and polishing them on her armor, a self-aware gesture of pride.

Kaidan smiled at her antics but then coughed and ran a distracted hand through his sweaty bangs, smoothing them off his forehead. "Shepard, I'm trying to be romantic here. I thought you might have wanted to go to that French restaurant."

Shepard held up a raised fist and they both dropped to the ground in a crouch. It was silent. The mercs seemed to have given up pursuing them through the twisted concrete and metal. She listened to her harsh breathing and made the hand signal for him to keep quiet.

Perhaps they wouldn't need to use that rocket launcher to escape. The mercs seemed to be thinking better of tangling with the two Spectres any further. The data wasn't worth the complete crippling of their forces.

"Kaidan, since when do _I_ like French cuisine?" she whispered.

"Fair point. I just-"

_Whoomph._

Shepard was thrown off her feet.

A krogan smashed right through the fragile wall. It was a trap. They hadn't broken off their pursuit.

The krogan caught her right around her waist and drove her into the opposite wall. Pain burst up her spine, the wind completely knocked out of her. She couldn't get him off, her arms were pinned, and she'd lost her gun.

She gasped for air. Goddamn fucking krogans.

Kaidan didn't hesitate. She saw one flash of blue and then the weight was off her chest and she could breathe again. She scrambled to her feet, as the krogan bounded up and charged at Kaidan. Shepard's partner dodged out of the way at just the last second and the krogan smashed into the opposite wall.

Shepard ran to Kaidan's side and thrust out her hand. A Singularity burst into life right above the krogan, but wasn't strong enough to pull his bulk into it. The krogan struggled against her tidal forces, until Kaidan thrust out his palm, his own smaller and weaker Singularity materializing beside hers. This time though, with their combined force, the krogan was yanked off his feet to float harmlessly.

_Sonvabitch._

Her ribs ached. She grasped her side, feeling a slight crunch of at least one broken rib.

"You good?" Kaidan asked, eyebrows drawn together, and a worried crease between them.

"Yup," Shepard gasped.

"C'mere," he said and wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her ribs and helping her to painfully hop along.

The LZ was in sight, she could see Cortez waiting.

Thank god. They were finally getting off this pile of rubble. She needed a hot bath. And maybe a sloppy, wet kiss from her three boys. And maybe some pain meds. Lots of pain meds.

"So," she said to Kaidan, a brave attempt to get that worried look off his face. "You were saying 'you just-'?"

"I just feel like I never treat you right," Kaidan replied, his expression dour. He gestured to her sweaty, dirty and blood-stained face. "It's always guns here, baby spew there. I want to spoil you. I want to give you nice things."

"Kaidan, you do spoil me," she laughed, ignoring the twinge in her side. "Are you kidding? I'm having great fun. I love you. I love the boys. I love our jobs. This is a rare treat being able to work together again. Ever since we had Andy, I've missed kicking merc ass with you."

A small smile spread over his face. "Really? You missed shooting people with me?"

"All the damn time. Sometimes I fantasize about making up an urgent Spectre mission that just needs us both to run across the galaxy shooting bad people. But then I look at those sweet boys and I know that's selfish. So I make do with my fantasies."

She lowered to a sotto voce as they drew closer to the shuttle door and placed her lips right to his ear. She said, "We tend to run around, and you somehow do it all by wearing no clothes. And then we totally have hot sex on piles of money while Jimmy dances around naked, trying to lure me away from you with his tempting devilish body. Your standard sex fantasy really."

He shivered at the light pressure on his ear and then burst out laughing as he registered what she said.

"Shepard! You are the worst wife a guy could ask for."

"Hey, Alenko, charming Shepard as usual?" Cortez asked as they settled into the back of the shuttle. "You know, far be it from me to tell you how to romance women, but yeah, that's not a great plan. You're doing it wrong. More compliments, buddy."

"Don't be fooled, Steve." Kaidan laughed and gently settled Shepard into her seat, carefully avoiding jostling her tender ribs. "She's no woman. She's a harpy in human form."

"I love you too, oh husband of mine." Shepard grinned, feeling cheered.

"So. Mac and cheese, Spectre Shepard?" Kaidan asked with a twinkle in his eye as he settled in beside her. He reached out and pulled her long ponytail over her shoulder, picking out bits of ash and debris, and then smoothed a wayward curl off her forehead. As he did so, Shepard felt something drape around her neck and glanced down.

A silver chain glinted there. There was three small star pendants attached to it, and she picked it up off her chest, admiring its craftsmanship. It looked expensive. It seemed to sparkle, even in the harsh lighting.

"Kaidan…what-?" she asked, confused as to why he had slipped it around her neck.

"I was going to give it to you tonight," he answered, swallowing harshly. He looked embarrassed, his cheeks going a little pink. "It's a present. I saw it and thought of you. I engraved the names on the back myself. I know you don't like wearing your wedding ring on your finger in case it gets caught on your armor, but I thought maybe a chain would be better. Just so, no matter where you are in the stars, you'll always think of us and know how to come home."

Shepard turned over the stars and saw, 'Kaidan', 'Miles', and 'Andy' etched into them in delicate metal strokes. Tears sprung to her eyes and she had to blink to clear them.

Shepard leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. He shut his eyes.

"Thank you. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever owned."

"Not as beautiful as you."

Steve coughed and Kaidan jumped, seeming to just remember he was there.

"Anyway," he spoke up louder, clearing his throat. "I just wanted to give it to you now, since we won't get a moment's peace later on. I mean, what says romance better than broken ribs and merc blood, right?"

"Nothing if you ask me," Shepard replied, injecting a snooty note into her voice. "It's just how we Shepard-Alenkos roll."

"So vids and mac and cheese?"

"Only if Miles and I get to watch Scooby Doo," Shepard warned, putting a stern expression on her face. "You _know_ that's our favorite and last time we had to sit through yours and Andy's silly nature program or whatever."

"Shepard." Kaidan smiled. "That was _The Lion King_, and you cried when Mufasa died."

"He's a liar, Steve." Shepard blurted out and shoved a hand over Kaidan's mouth. He tried to mumble around it, eyes laughing. "Don't listen to him."

"I'm not getting involved in this," Steve protested (most wisely) as the shuttle broke atmosphere and zoomed to the _Normandy._

"Did you get the data?" he asked glancing back at them having a mock tussle in the seat.

Kaidan held the small data disc up. "Got it. It should keep the Council happy. Two Spectres were a bit of an overkill, but there must be something important on here."

Shepard closed her eyes, listening to Steve and Kaidan speculate over the data. Her chest hurt, but it would get better. She could put her PJs on and snuggle in the blankets with her boys for Valentine's Day. It would be perfect.

Earth and home were waiting for them.

Her eyes snapped open as a thought occurred to her. "Hey, LT?"

"Yeah?"

"Guess what?"

"What?" he asked.

"It's a Tuesday."

Shepard smirked.


End file.
